Heather's Riverside Engagement

Heather Lo shared with us the story of her engagement to her soon-to-be husband, Brad. To find out how to share your engagement story with us, go here! 

I had been dating Brad for a little under 4 years when he proposed to me this past summer on June 1st. Brad's family owns a marina on the West Side of town on the Ohio River, and we would frequently go to the marina to go boating or jet skiing with our friends during the summer. On this particular day, just the two of us decided to take a boat out with our dog, Lilly.

Everything went wrong from the beginning: the boat was a mess when we got in, Brad had to attach missing boat pieces back together, lifejackets were tossed everywhere, and it was extremely hot out.

Once we finally got lowered into the water, we boated around on the river for a little bit and laid out in the sun while listening to music. After being out for a little while, Brad suggested we go back in to get some food from the restaurant next door and let our dog take a potty break. That sounded like a good idea to me, so we started heading back towards the dock.

When we were about 300 feet from the dock, Brad slowed the boat and kept texting someone on his phone. I was getting quite irritated that we weren't moving faster towards the dock since it was so hot out. Brad turned on a favorite song of ours (Swing Life Away by Rise Against), but I didn't think it was out of the ordinary — I mean, we both really like that song.

Brad asked me to go sit on the back of the boat to help catch the boat when it comes up to the dock. I walked towards the back of the boat and turned to sit down. At that same moment, Brad was getting down on one knee and asked me to marry him while holding out the most stunning and sparkly ring I've ever seen!

I cried and kissed him and said of course! Brad then told me to turn around towards the marina. When I turned around, I saw both of our excited families standing up on the marina's hill cheering and clapping. They watched the whole thing happen and I didn't even know they were there!

Brad brought the boat back in, and we celebrated with both of our families in the picnic grove. It meant so much to me to have our family there with us to celebrate the surprise proposal. Brad planned everything so perfectly and I wish I could relive the moment again—I didn't realize that he had been texting our family members to get in their places for the big moment while the boat was pulling in. It was one of the happiest times of my life.